


Seven of Six

by harrowedwakandan



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, New Year's Kiss, Ugly Holiday Sweaters, a bit of everything? there's a tiny smidge of sickfic in here, a tiny tiny bit of angst? i think? more like growing pains tbh, look i just threw a bunch of tropes in a pot and i stirred stirred stirred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 16:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17328503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harrowedwakandan/pseuds/harrowedwakandan
Summary: Rayla tries to cheer Claudia up with Xadian traditions while Claudia's on house arrest.





	Seven of Six

**Author's Note:**

> dearest katie, great architect of graphic design, memeologist: hope your new year is. raydiant. 
> 
> [CSI miami YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH]

**i. earth**

“If the whole point of these and being confined to these rooms is to keep me _away_ from magic, isn’t this whole Sextus Novus thing kind of…. I don’t know… counterintuitive?”

“How dare you. I am following her Majesty’s instructions to the _letter._ To the _brushstroke_ ,” Rayla said, the tip of her pink tongue poking past her lips as she almost went cross-eyed in absolutely adorable concentration.  “Have a look at the declaration if you don’t believe me,” she said, trying to correct the angle of the slightly lopsided great evergreen tree in front of her. “In fact, read it yourself. My hands and eyes are busy, but- yours- aren’t-” she grunted, straining against the tree’s massive weight, her feet scrabbling against the stone floor. 

“My hands are busy cramping,” grumbled Claudia, awkwardly fumbling for the dark, leathery parchment. Her hands were ensnared in complex manacles that extended up the backs of her hands, forcing her fingers into a slightly flexed position as though she were about to play the piano. Only her thumbs remained semi-mobile, just barely able to touch her index fingers.

Not that the manacles alone could stop her from casting spells. It’d be difficult, but well within the realm of possibility even with the delicate, evanescent metal encasing her hands. What really suppressed her magic was the faint, ever-moving runes that shifted throughout the metal, like sifting silvery sands of a great desert. The runes’ movement was slow and purposeful, like a snake, and like a snake in the grass, she hadn’t been able to perceive their presence until the cuffs had been gently snapped and twisted into place by one of the Dragon Queen’s little scaley attendants. Claudia scowled as she tried to pick up the Dragon Queen’s missive again.  

The shape of the shifting runes reminded her of the stationary ones that bordered the mysterious mirror that surely still stood in the darker recesses of the royal palace in Katolis. At least she knew the purpose of these. Being cut off from her magic produced a dull, almost bloated sensation undercurrent to her mind and mood that she felt she had to constantly fight. She managed to pinch the parchment between a thumb and a finger, and brought it closer to her face, peering at the complex runes.

Claudia almost dropped the missive at the sight of some of the silvery runes etched deep into the thick vellum morphing into something legible.

She snuck a glance at Rayla, who was still struggling with the tree, before turning back to the bottom of the vellum, where the legible writing read:

_“ The terms of the Magistrix’s continued life remain the same: She will not lay hands on anything magic within Xadian borders. She will remain separated from the human captain until I see fit.  She will remain in strict sequesterance in the Feldspar Quarters under your watch until the first new moon of the new year._

_Magistrix, if you are reading this, then the moonshadow guard Rayla spoke truly, and you have her utmost trust. Seeing as you have the trifold trust of my son, the Katolian princes, and the apprentice of the most competent assassin in centuries, I grant you a small boon: Know that your brother is safe under the watch of Archivist Kath, and no harm will come to him nor you so long as you do not raise a hand against me or mine._

_Our second meeting will take place after Sextus Novus and my late mate’s memorial._

_- **Solaris** , Tertium lumen et draco excelsis”_

Claudia read the short message thrice, willing the illegible runes that covered the rest of the paper to convert to something she could read.

“I can only read some of it,” she said after another minute, looking up at Rayla.

“Only some of it was for you,” grunted Rayla, wiping sweat from her brow after finally getting the tree properly upright. “And her conditions weren’t half bad, were they?” she added.

Claudia shrugged, still feeling that undercurrent of wrongness from the cuffs.

Rayla turned and took a few steps back to stand next to her, examining her work. “And since you spent your Winter’s Turn being interrogated by Her Majesty, I thought maybe this could… be something,” she added, peeking at Claudia out of the corner of her eyes. “Even though you’re not with your family. And also with. Me.” Claudia stared at her. Her cheeks seemed a little unnaturally pink. Probably from all the exertion from righting the great tree in its massive earthen container.

“So I think I got it!” Rayla said, planting her hands on her hips and beaming as she appraised her work.

The tree abruptly tilted to the right, scattering scented needles across the sandstone floor with a soft hiss.

“Should’ve known I couldn’t do anything straight,” Rayla groaned. She flopped down onto one of the plush vermillion couches, slumping down and staring sullenly at the lopsided tree. She tilted her head to the side, mimicking the tree’s angle and frowning. Her thin white braids swung slightly with the motion.

Claudia giggled, dropping the Dragon Queen’s missive back onto the stone table. _Trust._ She crossed the room and flopped down next to the elf.

“It makes sense to learn more about Xadia while actually, physically in Xadia. You’re right. It’s not counterintuitive. It’s intuitive.”

Rayla peeked at Claudia out of the corner of her eye. “I don’t think that’s quite right. But if you actually want to learn about our vicious, bloodthirsty Xadian customs-”

Claudia snorted and knocked her shoulder into Rayla’s playfully. “I already apologized for that-”

“Yeah, so did I, but it’s still funny,” Rayla retorted, knocking Claudia back. She leered at Claudia menacingly. “Look out, I’m going to get you, human! I’m going to suck your blood and spoil your bread,” she growled, holding back a snicker.

“I think it’d be worse if you spoiled the ending of my books, actually,” Claudia said thoughtfully. “I never did finish Love Amongst the Dragons, which is awful because I’m pretty sure I dropped it while we were crossing the border and I never got around to putting a flame retardant cover on it, so it’s almost certainly burnt to a crisp in the borderlands

Rayla groaned again. “Books! You sound like Ma…. my teacher,” she complained, rolling her eyes and sinking back into the plush lounge. Her silvery-white hair fanned out behind her, a strange little halo against the deep red of the cushions. “Everything important is preserved by magic or taught by word of mouth,” she continued. “Reading is important, yes, but not so much. Who needs such a thick tome when you could be _told_ the information by someone who knows or go out and see it?”

“You could,” Claudia said, pulling up her legs and crossing them underneath her. She awkwardly propped her chin on her fingertips. “But it’s a lot easier to modify a spell than it is to get rid of a bunch of books. Trust me, Dad tried more than once to get Ki- King Harrow to hold mass burnings of some book about the history of the Xadia-Five Kingdom split,” she said with a snort. “It was, uh. Not successful,” she concluded half-heartedly. “And if I only depended on what I was told by anyone… how would I be able to know whether they were trustworthy?”

“I guess you have to think and evaluate them for yourself,” Rayla said, still flat on her back. “And if you’re wrong… all you can do is try to atone. I think we’d both know that better than anyone,” she said, closing her eyes briefly.

“I guess,” Claudia echoed softly, her eyes following the dips and curves of Rayla’s profile. She liked the gentle slope of her horns, the silver of her hair in its slightly-mismatched braids at her temples. “That’s growth, I suppose.”

Rayla opened her eyes, smiling tentatively. “That’s actually the first principle of Sextus Novus. The first day centers around Earth as a source of primal magic - and growth as people,” she continued, sitting up and mirroring Claudia’s posture with a little bounce. “We’re all learning from each other and from the earth that supports us.”

Claudia smiled back. There was something about the elf that brightened the room when she started talking about something that excited her. It wasn’t quite cute, but… it was astounding. Claudia felt a softness expand throughout her chest, and the corners of her lips lifted in a gentle, slight smile as she settled in to listen to Rayla’s explanation of Sextus Novus.

“So Sextus Novus is about honoring the six sources of magic….”

* * *

 

  
** ii. sky **

 

Claudia stared intensely at the branches of the Novus tree, her nose barely an inch from the tips. “I don’t see any buds, so how is it supposed to bloom?” she asked, leaning into her crouched even more. Her eyes crossed slightly as she focused even harder.

Rayla looked up from the box of decorations. She was untangling a layer of flattened ornaments and artifacts, slowly unwinding long strips of fluffy white and pale blue garlands. She looked from the garlands to Claudia and held back a snort. The assassin crept silently forward in a crouch as Claudia remained intent on willing the branches to show some sign of magic.

“Like, is it an instantaneous thing? I’m not sure if the design of this is really appealing if it happens out of nowhere. There’s no anticipation in-” Claudia cut herself off with a yelp.

Rayla darted around her, decorating the older girl in garlands instead of the tree. “Dazzling,” she said, with a lopsided smirk.

Claudia reached up to knock the dangling end of the garland out of her face, snorting. “Isn’t this against the rules? Not that it’s _super_ important, but I might want to stay on the Dragon Queen’s good side.”

“The garlands are as magic as a loaf of bread,” Rayla said, arranging the garland into a slightly neater circlet on Claudia’s head. “Your laying hands on them won’t be an offense.” She tucked the edge of the garland behind Claudia’s ear absentmindedly, grazing the older girl’s cheek. A light flush ran across Claudia’s cheeks.

Rayla pulled her hand back abruptly, ignoring how her face felt suddenly a bit warm. “Now you’re really embodying the spirit of the sky,” she said, gesturing to Claudia’s bedonnement. “Very important for this particular day of letting go of the past.”

Claudia ran her flexed fingers over one of the garlands gently. “They’re so soft. Nothing like clouds,” she said. “I doubt it’d be as fun to run my hands through a bunch of chilly water vapor, but the sentiment is nice. Maybe all clouds should be like this. We could probably do it. Maybe a widespread maneuver to change the ecosystem of the sky and the nature of the water cycle, but with the sheer amount of mages in Xadia magepower wouldn’t necessarily be an issue….” She looked at her cuffs. “Or not.”

“Orrrr…. we could decorate the tree with the rest of these,” Rayla suggested, moving to pick the box up and bring it closer.  There were plenty of other cloudlike garlands, all varying shades of silver, white, and blue. “You can just toss them on. No touching of the tree required.”

Claudia tried to waggle her fingers at Rayla playfully. “Fine, but you have to play by the same rules.”

“Play by the… You know what? I’m game.” Rayla said, shaking off her confusion. “Ready…”

“Go!” yelled Claudia, and promptly tossed the first wadded up garland at Rayla’s face. It fell into Rayla’s stunned hands before her shocked face morphed into a wide grin. “Oh, it is _on_ !”  


\---

 

“It’s too bad we couldn’t see Zym,” Claudia said after the tree was wrapped in two lonely garlands and she was almost cocooned in blue and white. Rayla steadily wove one of the destroyed garlands into a small braid at the mage’s temple. “I kinda miss the little guy chewing holes in my dress.”

“Maybe he’ll be around after the new year,” Rayla said. “Her Majesty probably isn’t keen on letting him too far from her side so soon after he was brought home. She dropped her hands down, the braid finished.

“Maybe,” said Claudia. The thin braid Rayla had just finished swayed gently, caught in a tiny breeze.

Rayla blinked. “The tree’s blooming - the zephyrs are coming out. Look!”

Claudia stared in wonder as the tips of the tree themselves began swirling with tiny pale collections of Sky magic, like tiny primal stones venting the pressure from contained storms. Her dark hair began to move with the wind, the zephyrs chasing each other around her in a way that defied all physics to make her hair billow out around her.

Rayla helped Claudia to her feet and pulled the more constraining garlands off Claudia as the little wind spirits danced around them, chiming softly and whistling a nonsensical tune as they moved.

“Do they stay for the rest of Novus?” asked Claudia as she felt one little zephyr dart close to her cuffs before abruptly changing direction.

“Only a few hours, actually,” Rayla said, tearing her eyes away from how the wind caressed Claudia’s hair and made it dance around her. She felt a few of the zephyrs moving around her as well.. soft but somehow getting stronger. A few of them began to nudge her towards the more open space, near the foyer of the suite that the Dragon Queen had set aside for herself and Claudia.

“Are they.. moving you too?” asked Claudia, moving opposite her. The two of them were being guided...

“In a circle,” Rayla said, as it all clicked into place. “Claudia, they want us to dance.”

“Well, then. I sah-pose I can’t disappoint them,” Claudia said, putting on an exaggerated accent. “May I have this dahnce, Lady Rayla?”

“Why, certainly, Your Claudiance,” Rayla replied, bowing low. The girls laughed and began swaying softly to the tune of the zephyrs’ song, the Novus tree standing tall and crookedly behind them. And if the looks they gave each other were softer and more romantic in nature than would be strictly expected between platonic friends, well. The zephyrs wouldn’t tell.

* * *

** iii. ocean **

 

“This was _not_ my fault.”

“...” Rayla gave her a Look.

“It wasn’t! This whole situation was the natural product of boredom. It was the fault of there only being four books at hand in Katolic and my apparent ban from all written Draconic materials. It was the fault of my lack of company, since you were doing your antsy little workouts. It was the fault of sheer bad luck, Rayla, and I think it’s very important-”

“For you to own up to your mistakes?” Rayla said, obviously fighting back a laugh.

“No, for this very complex issue to be taken with a bit of nuance,” Claudia insisted. She couldn’t feel her fingers or toes at this point, but it was absolutely vital that she came away from this situation with at least a little bit of dignity intact.

Rayla sighed, and turned back to scraping the packed snow from around Claudia.

“This is so extreme,” Claudia muttered, trying to wriggle around. “I didn’t think those cuffs would really be this bad - maybe give me a little smack on the wrist for touching something, but not like _this_.” She fought back a shiver.

“Actually, I don’t think it’s anymore than twisting any magic you come into contact with,” Rayla said. “What’d you touch?”

“Just the tips of the branches…. I wanted to see the little zephyrs from yesterday,” complained Claudia, hanging her head. She tried to wiggle about again. This time it felt like she had more room in her snowy prison, but not much.

“Were you actually touching the oceanic part of the display too?”

“No! …..maybe the edge of my f.” She wrinkled her nose, trying to fight against the urge that was overcoming her. “Fuhh. FOO-CHOO!”

The snowdrift shuddered with the sheer intensity of Claudia’s sneeze. Rayla dodged just in time to avoid being splattered with saliva and a glob of mucus. Claudia sniffed. “Sorry.”

“Humans are so delicate,” Rayla said, scraping with more urgency. “How’re you holding up in there?”

“It’s a bit nippy,” Claudia said, ignoring the unmistakable feeling of snot beginning to drip down the inside of her nostrils.

Rayla said, “Your nose is red and your cheeks are more flushed than a coralfish at sunset. Let me try something else before you freeze to death.” She took a step back before looking at Claudia sheepishly. “Brace yourself, I guess?”

“Brace myself how-?!”

Rayla rammed the huge snowdrift with her shoulder. It shuddered, but didn’t quite topple over. She backed up another two steps and tried again, to no avail. Claudia tried to move again.

“I feel like I have a little more room in here, but not by much. Maybe start a fire?” Claudia suggested with a tinge of misery. “Might help speed the melting process up,” she said. The underground nature of this part of the Dragon Queen’s palace kept it from being uncomfortably cold, but it would still help to raise the temperature a bit.

Rayla darted into the bedroom and came back with a small bar of flint before running her hands over the wall. Claudia followed her movement, curious as to what was going to be used as kindling without calling one of the palace staff for help. After a minute, Rayla found whatever she was looking for and pressed into the wall.

“Oh, handy,” said Claudia as a section of the floor sank down, revealing a good deal of dead wood and dry grass. “Secret panels seem to be a thing among roy. Royaal. RoyaaAAH-CHOO!”

The crackle and crunch of the packed snow breaking apart resounded throughout the room. “Huh,” said Claudia, feeling far more room around her when she tried to move again. “Try again?”

Rayla took three massive steps back and charged the drift, slamming into it with all her weight and all her strength. Claudia felt her bones reverberating with the sheer power of the impact before the snowy prison collapsed. She dropped to the floor, only a few scant inches, but it felt like she’d fallen miles. She couldn’t move except to shudder and shiver, trying to curl in on herself. In the sudden warmth of the room, she felt even colder.

Rayla reached down and plucked the shivering magistrix out of the snow before setting her down in front of the firepit. Claudia moved to tuck her hands under her arms before realizing she couldn’t. She settled for hunching over and folding her arms between her torso and her knees as Rayla worked.

The elf flipped open her blade and struck it against the flint, showering sparks down into the kindling. Claudia stiffly wiggled her toes and blew lukewarm air on her hands as Rayla quickly, efficiently tended to the fire, feeding it until it was a sizable flame in the pit. Claudia scooted over as close as she dared, draping her hair over her shoulder and leaning into the warmth.

“You can hold your hands closer,” Rayla said, dropping one of the thick mahogany duvets from her bed next to Rayla. “The manacles won’t burn you, just like they didn’t give you freezerburn. Also, you should probably get out of those and change,” she added, holding up a particularly fluffy floor-length, ruffly crimson robe. “I know it’s ugly, but it’s dry,” she said.

“It’s gorgeous,” said Claudia, and she awkwardly started shuffling out of her damp clothes. Rayla started and whirled around to face the Novus tree. “Maybe not _my_ style, but I can appreciate Solaris’ flair for the unusual. At least it’s long sleeved,” she said, sniffling. “And you can turn back around now?”

Rayla peeked over her shoulder. “Some warning would have been nice before you started taking clothes off willy-nilly,” she joked.

Claudia snorted. “I was freezing to death! Sorry for not adhering to your prudish ideals,” she retorted, and then ruined her own reply with a huge, disgusting _snnerork_ of a sniffle.

Rayla flinched at the sound. “Ew,” she said, picking up the duvet. Claudia reached for it, but Rayla plopped down next to her instead and leaned into her before wrapping the duvet around them both.

“....Bod. Body heat. Right,” Claudia stammered, her spine suddenly ramrod straight as Rayla wrapped her arms around her.

“Humans are stupid delicate,” grumped Rayla, resting her forehead on Claudia’s shoulder. “At least when Ez and Zym fell beneath the ice Ez had the excuse of being a proper kid and Zym wasn’t even hatched, but you can’t even take a little ice for a few minutes without developing hypothermia.”

“Zym fell beneath the ice?”

“Didn’t we tell you that?” Rayla asked, pulling back from her excellent impression of a koala-monkey. A very warm koala-monkey.

“No, but if it means you’re going to deprive me of warmth, don’t tell me,” complained Claudia, with another sniffle. “I do appreciate stories when I’m sick, though.” She looked at her companion out of the corner of her eye. “And seeing as the lack of entertainment is what got me into this mess in the first place….”

Rayla rolled her eyes. “Fine. So Callum was feeling high and mighty because he’d learned a whole half of a spell….”

Neither of them noticed the snowdrift melting away and flowing back into its proper place at the bottom of the Novus tree, shining and glittering with all the beauty, darkness, and depth of the deepest waters.

 

* * *

** iv. sun **

 

The Novus tree had blossomed a beautiful miniature sun at the earliest hours of the morning. The light was soft and tinged with pink, as if the Feldspar apartments were under a perpetual sunrise. It shone steadily on the absolute mess of an empty nest of duvets, blankets, and cushions that Claudia and Rayla had constructed next to the fire pit. And it shone on the short vellum note in Rayla’s hands - legible to her and Claudia both -  as she and Claudia stood over the small package that had just been delivered by one of the Dragon Queen’s handmaidens.

_"We’re sorry to hear of your illness. Please accept these handmade gifts from my youngest drathlings. May the resilience of the vulcadeer flow from their shorn wool, willingly and knowingly given, into you and yours. May the strength and brightness of the sun cut through any sickness upon you and drive it out this Novus._

_Brightest regards, Archivist Kath"_

Rayla and Claudia stared at the misshapen lumps before them. One was pale yellow, with geometric violet patterns criss-crossing it in its entirety. The other was a vivid, almost violent orange that wasn’t softened at all by the off-white stripes that stretched diagonally down the bottom half.

“That’s not normal Xadian clothing, right? Because Her Majesty’s sense of fashion is way out of left field if it is,” Claudia said, still wrapped in the fluffy red robe.

“Not at all,” said Rayla, picking up one of the…. artifacts. “I think this is a sleeve? And maybe that one is a hole for a head?” She paused, running her hands over it. “But they’re _warm_ ,” she said, eyeing Claudia’s haggard appearance and the way her shoulders were hunched. “You could do with a bit of warmth.” The fire was still ablaze, a smaller version of itself, and Claudia had stayed by it all night, sipping warmed drakemead and trying her best to question Rayla on the ventilatory mechanics of their current quarters.

(“Why haven’t we suffocated from the gases emitted from the fire?”

“The what?”

“Even smokeless fire produced a significant amount of gases not breathable to humans or elves-”)

“I do need warmth,” Claudia said, looking at them longingly. “But the last time I tried touching something magical didn’t go so well. You know - once frozen, twice shy?”

“I don’t think this counts,” said Rayla, looking at the note and mentally filing away yet another strange human expression. “‘Willingly given.’ If the Archivist is worth her salt, she made sure the vulcadeer knew what they were donating to. That’s got to count for something,” she said, musing. “I’m not a mage, but… if they explicitly intend you no ill will, as opposed to the Novus tree’s ambivalence to you, maybe…?”

“Intent is a huge part of magic,” Claudia agreed, eyeing the lumpy woolen monstrosities. “But just to be safe, maybe my hands shouldn’t touch them? Or I can’t literally lay hands on them? An extra layer against the proclamation might make it a little.. safer. Wow,” she said, shaking her head like a wet-eared hound. “Me, talking about what’s safer.” She stared into the middle distance, chewing her lip.

Rayla started turning the pale yellow drathling-made gift over in her hands, examining it closely. “Well, then,” she said. “Let’s do this.”

“You have to wear the other one, though,” Claudia said, eyeing the discarded vibrant orange sweater. “Think of the drakelings, Rayla.”

“Drathlings. They’re not full dragon,” Rayla said dryly, trying to decide which opening in the yellow sweater was most likely meant for a head to go through. 

“Think of the children, Rayla. Would you really defy the spirit of the sun and reject the love and warmth from such a gift?” Claudia wheedled. “On the fifth day of Novus? Really?”

Rayla folded her arms and huffed. “Fine. As soon as you’re wearing one and back by the fire, I’ll put the other one on.”

Twenty strenuous and sweater-stretching minutes later, Claudia was dressed in bright green and pale yellow over blood red. Rayla, having gotten Claudia into a state of optimum warmth, changed tacks abruptly and so completely that it was impressive.

“What if,” the elf suggested, trying and failing to fold the second sweater neatly so she could drop it back in the box, “I _didn’t_ put on this catastrophic clashing colorstorm? And went to make you some nice mushroom broth instead?”

“You promised,” insisted Claudia, trying to look as intimidating as possible in a fluffy robe and an oversized, misshapen sweater folded back several times to stay unevenly cuffed at her forearms. “And I know they’re ugly but it’s so comfortable.I’m really glad the drathlings thought of us like this. It’s so sweet; I can’t wait to meet them after I get out of here and see Soren again,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. She brightened again, rubbing her cheek against her wool-clad shoulder. “It’s like a wearable cuddlefest!”

“I’ve had better,” Rayla said without thinking. The silence that followed was almost palpable as Claudia looked at her with an inscrutable expression. Rayla could taste the silence on her tongue and found that it and her sheer embarrassment tasted like mint and oranges. “I mean. I’ve had. We’ve, uh.” She backed away, almost tripping over the empty box and dropping the drathlings’ gift in her hasty retreat.

“Are you- are you hungry? I think you should have some more drakemead, let me get you some more or maybe, maybe I can make some mushroom broth,” Rayla spluttered,, scrambling to get out of the room and into the kitchenette. Or anywhere Claudia wasn’t, really.

Claudia tilted her head to the side. “Had better what?” She tapped her foot for a minute before her eyes were drawn to the discarded orange sweater, sprawled on the ground. She nudged it with her foot, but nothing happened. “Rayla! You don’t get to get out of wearing it that easily!”

Determined, she bent down and nudged the sweater into a small ball before carefully punting it clean across the room. She walked after it to punt it again across the little sitting room that Rayla had slept in for the first two nights, past the curtains that separated that room from the bedroom where she’d slept. Then one more time, into the kitchenette where Rayla was nervously puttering around with a knife in one hand. An already half-full pot of water hovering over an open flame, and a small mound of diced mushrooms sat on a silvery cutting board.

“You work fast,” said Claudia, momentarily shocked into stillness. “Also, hey! Why didn’t you make me mushroom broth before?” she asked, leaning casually (She wondered if it was too casually. Casual to the point of being artificial. Hopefully not. Hopefully just casually enough.)

“I didn’t think you’d like it before,” Rayla said, her voice slightly too fast, too high-pitched. She didn’t turn around to meet Claudia’s eyes.

“O….kay,” Claudia said, raising her eyebrows. “But you know this doesn’t mean that you get out of wearing the sweater, right?”

“Right, right,” Rayla acquiesced, and in quick, jerky motions she turned, stooped down, and pulled the sweater over her head. Her horns got caught on the edges of it for a moment - but Claudia was spared the conundrum of whether to help (and potentially wreak some magical manacle havoc or to let Rayla struggle (funny, but not very kind) when Rayla vigorously shook her head and her head popped through the neck of the sweater.

Her hair stood half on end, and she had a smudge of dust on her nose from haphazardly yanking the orange sweater over her head - probably transferred from the floor, Claudia thought. Cute.

“You’ve got a bit of…” She reached out with both her manacled hands to wipe it from Rayla’s face. It felt like she was moving through sap, like the look on Rayla’s face as she looked at Claudia would be preserved forever in amber hereafter, never to be used as a component for a spell, but for the sake of preservation alone, to hold fast to a fleeting moment of beauty despite the uselessness of clinging fast to transience.

 

It was like a light went off in her head. Or maybe a match finally struck to light, or a fledgling bird taking its first flight.  It was a swooping in her stomach, the bloom of golden flowers on the Novus tree under the false sun. Her hands trembled and dropped back in front of her.

 

“Oh,” said Claudia. “ _Oh_.”

* * *

** v. moon **

 

“I can tell you’re avoiding me,” Claudia said, her voice unnaturally somber. She was still huddled in the cushions piled by the fire pit - though she’d let the fire go out earlier that morning, more than warm enough due to the drathlings’ gift. Rayla hadn’t come out of the bedroom since yesterday, as far as Claudia could tell.

And she could tell. Her eyes were drawn to Rayla easily, even with the near-invisibility granted to Rayla by the light of the (fake) full moon. “The suite is pretty sizeable, but even with you being nearly invisible… it’s not that big,” she drawled, her eyes not wavering from Rayla.

Rayla didn’t respond. She just stood there, hovering. Silent.

It wasn’t the silence Claudia had grown accustomed to over the past few days - the easy nature of it, the presence of Rayla by her side. It wasn’t the silence that was enhanced by short bursts of chatter and conversation without needing them to be supportive and rejuvenating.

This felt…. empty. Hollow. Dead. Like a ball of dust, suspended in the air and more still than death.

Rayla stood there for another minute before slipping back into the bedroom, anything she might have wanted to say left unsaid. Claudia almost got up to go after her, but stopped. It wasn’t like the realization was easy for her, either. Maybe they both needed some time apart.

As apart as two people can get when they’re confined to the same suite for days on end.

Claudia stared at the top of the Novus tree, with its fake moon with all-too-real moonlight. Its light felt like mockery, being so clearly present when Rayla was not. _Can you handle it?_ it asked her. _Can you handle the different phases of the moon? The hard, empty times with the full, joyous ones? The sheer work it will take to earn an unshakeable trust like that into which you were born?_

It felt strange to even consider it, and that felt nonsensical. Friendship with the elf was a possibility, but romance was unthinkable? No. Not to her. Nothing was unthinkable to Claudia, Dark Magistrix of Katolis, second only to High Mage Viren. Second only to Dad.

Who was now her enemy. How very topsy-turvy. Claudia closed her eyes.

Something in her grated against the idea of not being able to… at least try. To at least explore whatever this was with Rayla. Not being able to try because of Rayla’s hesitance. Because of her own hesitance.  But that was wrong, she thought, curling deeper into the cushion. The manacles cut off her sense of magic, of the ability to manipulate different things. To reach down, to grab hold, to command, to will things where she would.

Rayla made her want to work with her. _With_ magic, in symbiosis, as opposed to a tool. She didn’t want to be in command any more. Dark magic had always come easy to her, but maybe that wasn’t quite right.

Claudia had never liked the easy path anyway.

The Novus moon shone bright as ever. Claudia didn’t look away.

* * *

** vi. stars **

It took a full day and then some for Rayla to work up the courage to face Claudia head-on. Maybe it was closer to two. Who was counting the hours? It felt silly to her, to balk so much at the idea of lo- of caring deeply for a human. It was ridiculous to think of what the Queen would think, how her brethren would see her. Well, not ridiculous. But she’d thought she was past the point of letting others’ opinions decide for her what was right, or wrong, or acceptable.

If she was being honest, she’d been ready to face Claudia since noon yesterday, when she’d worked up the courage to walk into the room and stood there, ready to apologize and confess in some grand speech or whatever.

Clearly that hadn’t worked out too well. She had run. Just like her parents. And now she was still considering running, with every step she took towards the main room where she’d set up the Novus tree a mere five days ago.

As soon as she crossed the threshold, Rayla froze.

The tree was resplendent with sky-garlands, the rotating sun and moon gently twirling around each other at the top. The water underneath the trunk lapped at its magically defined edges, and one particular addition stood out. Hundreds of tiny silver-edged flames framed the tree branches, hung painstakingly from repurposed garlands.

 “So I took a chance,” said Claudia, “that all the decorations left in here were non-magical. Especially after the disaster with the tree and the snow and everything, like, I figured you might consider that I'm really nosy and tend to get into stuff so. I gambled. And decorated, mostly really clumsily by hand, so if it’s not quite up to par… sorry. And since the tree was magic and I can’t really touch it to rearrange stuff, I kind of tried. Asking it to make itself look even more gorgeous? For when you came in. and weirdly enough, it worked!” exclaimed Claudia in a single breath. “I”m not used to just… asking. Or having anything to ask. So that’s weird, but I think I like it? Also, I’m not sure if the tree is actually sentient or if it just has some sort of hard-to-understand consciousness, and I kind of want to study that if that’s a thing. Wait, getting off track.

“And there wasn’t anything for the stars, and I don’t remember you saying anything about them, so I ended up melting down some of the larger candles and weaving them onto the tree and lighting those. Very, very carefully. Also by hand, but the tree helped. I think it’s a little bit vain, if it has a concept of that sort of thing.”

Rayla looked at the tree, and the glittering flames and garlands and twirling sun and moon were almost as beautiful as the fact that Claudia had put in so much effort and work to make  something as superficial as a lovely Novus tree happen after she’d run away from her and avoided her for a day.

Claudia sat on the couch, legs crossed underneath her, the ugly sweater the drathlings made draping over her shoulders, biting her lip.

Rayla looked at Claudia, and it was like seeing the sun rise over the mountains after months of northern winter.

“Also, I ate the rest of the mushroom broth,” rambled Claudia, her eyes darting around everywhere except for Rayla, “which was delicious, even as leftovers. And I drank the rest of the drakemead. So like-uff,” she wheezed, as Rayla seemed to flicker from the doorway into an embrace, knocking her all the way back on the lounge cushions and burying her face into Claudia’s shoulder.

“It’s beautiful,” said Rayla, her eyes squeezed shut. “I’m sorry for running away from you like that,” she said. “It wasn’t fair to you.”

“Whatever this is,” said Claudia, “it’s not easy for me. So it’s okay that it’s not easy for you, either. I think.”

“Maybe we should ignore the easy path,” said Rayla, pulling back with a faint smile.

“You travelled across a continent against your uncle’s wishes to return Zym and I defied my father by… a lot of things, actually,” said Claudia. “Maybe we should make a list of all the not-easy things we’ve done and compare them to the easy ones.”

Rayla bit back a laugh. “I don’t know if I have the patience to write out a list like that,” she said.

“Well I..just.. might?” Claudia trailed off. Rayla turned to see what she was looking at, and turned back around with a bright, genuine smile.

“This part was meant to be a surprise,” she said. “Come on, get up. We’ll move one of the cushions closer to the tree.”

“Do Novus trees normally grow… oranges?” asked Claudia as Rayla lugged one of the cushions closer for them to crouch on, just beyond the edge of the gently lapping waters.

“Yes, it’s a tradition. A more... romantic tradition,” Rayla said, plucking two of the tiny oranges offered from the Novus tree’s branches. “The seedless oranges are said to be the fruit of the stars. Its good luck to feed them to your sweetheart at Novus Terminus.” She turned to Claudia. “And these only grow a few minutes before Novus Terminus, so it’s usually more of a scramble to get them, but since we’re alone it’s easier…”

Claudia held up her manacled hands. “Looks like you’ll be the only one feeding anyone tonight,” she teased. “If you save one, I’ll make up for it after the new moon.”

Rayla felt a flush of heat rise in her face and started peeling one of the oranges. “Are you just going to. Say things like that now?”

Claudia grinned. “Yes. also, how do we know when it’s Novus Terminus?”

As if in answer, the sun and moon flickered and went out before re-illuminating.

“6….” said Rayla, splitting the orange in two.

Claudia smiled. “You know there’s a tradition humans have for the new year too?” she asked as the celestial bodies flickered again atop the Novus tree. Rayla tilted her head to the side, separating a slice of orange from the halved fruit.

Claudia gently reached up and awkwardly cupped Rayla’s face, moving in close. Very close. The sun and moon went out again. “You know,” Rayla said, leaning into Claudia’s touch, “I’m pretty sure Her Majesty wouldn’t approve of you blatantly disregarding her terms and traditions. I’m very magical,” she said. The sun and moon winked out yet again.

“In this case, I think that your willingness as a present magical person cancels out any of the Dragon Queen’s intent,” said Claudia. “Since I’m not exploding or accidentally headbutting you right now.” The sun and moon went dark.

Rayla couldn’t hold back a smile as she held the slice of orange to Claudia’s lips. The room went dark for the last time, and Rayla could smell the tang of citrus as Claudia bit down on the orange.

Then she could taste the orange on her own lips.

Her teeth clacked against Claudia’s in a jarring way before they both corrected their angles, moving their noses out of the way of each other and moving back just enough for Rayla to enjoy the feel of Claudia’s soft, slightly chapped lips, and the elf and the magistrix had both closed their eyes, so they could not yet see that the Novus tree had gone completely dark and the room had filled with the light of a thousand thousand stars.

They weren’t missing out, though. They had plenty of time to experience the sight of galaxies whirling across the sky.

 

* * *

 

** nullae: void. **

After the citrus, after the clack of teeth, after they found some semblance of rhythm, three things happened:

First, a resounding _crack_.

Second, the coppery tang of blood from blunted teeth and the slightly over eagerness of two teenagers who had no earthly idea what they were doing (but were willing to try it out together).

Third, the vanishing of the Novus stars. Entirely. The room was pitch black as Rayla pulled back from Claudia.

“I’m so sorry! Did I bite you-”

“Um. Rayla.”

Rayla stared at Claudia’s hands. Claudia's very  _free hands._  Then she looked down at the floor. A pile of shining metal lay between them, still reverberating with whatever powerful force had shattered them.

“Your cuffs came off,” said Rayla, dumbfounded.

“The tree is a baby," Claudia said musingly.

“It’s a sapling,” Rayla said, looking at the formerly grand Novus tree with the thankfully-extinguished candles and garlands spread around it in a spiral. The sun, the moon, the ocean - they'd all gone out. Without a trace. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch the floor. “It’s… gone. All of the magic in it. It’s gone. Undone.”

“I think I did it,” said Claudia, looking at her own hands. “But that doesn’t make sense. It takes a whole lot of work to undo enchantments. You can’t just. Void magic.”

“This just got a whole lot more complicated. And it was already pretty complex,” Rayla said, staring, dumbfounded at the sapling.

“Like I said,” Claudia said. “Which of us ever chose the easy path?”

“I don’t know how this will work,” confessed Rayla, laughing and wiping a single tear from her eye.

 

Claudia gently touched her forehead to Rayla’s, her free hands cradling her girlfriend’s face. “Neither do I. Want to find out, elf?”

“Human,” laughed Rayla. “I’d certainly like to try.”


End file.
